New luxury cluster developments are changing the face of Houghton

When you think of Houghton you probably think of a suburb for families with its large properties, stately homes and established greenery – not to mention several excellent schools in the area.

But Houghton is experiencing a transformation with the addition of several top-end apartment developments and hotels planned including The Houghton and The Houghton Hotel.

So why is it becoming the focus for top-end developments? There are several reasons, according to David Nagle, director of development company Seven and Twelve on Houghton, one of which is the ease with which developments can happen there in the first place. “Houghton has a more relaxed approach to town planning, which is allowing for the development of cluster and apartment living in the suburb,” he says.

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Stephen Pellerade, from Pellerade luxury home designers and developers, says that the older, and sometimes dilapidated, homes on single acres are being subdivided into multiple homes. “Because the land is expensive, these new developments tend to be upmarket in character; and do still attract a more affluent buyer”, he says. Pellerade has recently been involved in developing the most expensive penthouse to date in Houghton (at a price tag of R60m), as well as the most expensive house (in excess of R100m).

David says that the desired target market for these developments vary – from young professionals requiring security to families downsizing from their large properties; who no longer want to deal with all the upkeep of running a large homestead and the associated security issues, garden maintenance, electrical blackouts and water cut-offs. On the contrary, living in a development means these issues are all taken care of by the estate’s management team who also often have generators and water storage tanks housed on the estate.

Beyond The Houghton and The Houghton Hotel, there are several other clusters currently being developed such as The Corniche, a contemporary cluster development due to be launched next month that will consist of 24 luxury homes with energy saving features.

According to Stephen, Houghton also delivers more margin for your spend as a developer. “Sandton is increasingly more compressed and does not have the attractive wide streets and beautiful pavement trees that Houghton offers,” he concludes.

This article was originally published in Sunday Times Neighbourhood: Joburg. Visit yourneighbourhood.co.za, like YourNeighbourhoodZA on Facebook and follow YourHoodZA on Twitter.